


Ocean Blue

by cupcakeL



Series: Confectionary AU [2]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Halloween, Harry and Louis have one brain cell, Harry sings, Louis bakes, M/M, This is your average halloween fic, chaotic baking, halloween party, its pure fluff there is no angst, its terribly sweet, proposal, zayn is chaotic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:01:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27301606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cupcakeL/pseuds/cupcakeL
Summary: “Hm, Lou, I think you might have to quit your job as an international rockstar and start to work at Sweets Style for me,” he smiled and gave Louis a little peck before biting into his cake slice again.Or Louis wants to surprise Harry by baking something and Harry wants to surprise Louis by singing something and they both have the best yet most stressful Halloween party ever.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik/Liam Payne
Series: Confectionary AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1992670
Comments: 2
Kudos: 43





	Ocean Blue

**Author's Note:**

> This is the sequel/epilogue to my other fic _Seasalt and Chocolate._ I think it can be read on its own but I’d strongly advise you to read part one first. Dw its not that bad.  
> One big thank you goes out to the person who commented on Seasalt and Chocolate that they want to read an Epilogue. You’re the reason this fic exists.  
> And another big thank you once again to [Liv](http://suspendrs.tumblr.com/) for being a wonderful but also sometimes kinda rude beta! I know i deserve it and one day I’ll finish the thing.  
> 

_ Halloween Special: Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Buttercream  _

Louis was stressed. He wanted everything to be perfect but, despite having been in a committed relationship with a pâtissier for the past three years and best efforts on his part, his baking skills were still quite in need of improvement. 

He glared at the bloody awful mess that was Zayn’s kitchen, as if it had personally attacked him. 

“You know, just staring at the ingredients ain’t gonna make them a finished cake, right?” Zayn leaned on the doorframe, eyebrows raised, probably at both the disorder in their kitchen and their best friend in its midst. 

Louis picked up the cocoa powder and sighed heavily. 

“I just- I want to do this perfectly, you know, but I can’t bring myself to actually start baking because when I start baking, I might fuck it up again, and what if it’s not perfect, what if he hates it and what if he doesn’t want me anymore, and what if he says-” 

“Hey. Hey, Lou, look at me,” Zayn interrupted Louis, taking the cocoa powder from him and putting it back on the kitchen counter. “Everything is going to be perfect. And even if your cake is not going to be as incredibly amazing as any pudding Harry could make, he is still going to love it, because you made it, Lou. He knows that you’re stepping out of your comfort zone and that you’re doing it for him. He’s gonna love whatever you make because he loves you.” 

Louis looked up, giving Zayn a little smile before sinking forward into his best friend’s embrace. For a few moments they just stayed like that. When Louis opened his eyes again, he saw Liam standing in the hallway grinning at both of them. Suddenly a little embarrassed about his outburst, he took a step back, freeing himself from the hug.

“Anyways. I really have to start now or I’ll never finish on time,” he said, not so subtly wiping his eyes with his sleeve and turning away. 

He read over the recipe for the cake again while he waited for Zayn to finish making some tea for the three of them. He slowly started to assemble the ingredients for the dough, carefully working around Zayn in the narrow kitchen, until they went and joined Liam in the living room to continue their annual Tim Burton movie marathon.

For the next few hours he tried to work as concentrated as possible while humming along to his playlist to calm himself down. After he had placed the cake securely in the oven, he made an improvised Bain-Marie from two pots and started to melt the chocolate for the glazing. Then he started to make the vanilla buttercream frosting for the inside layer and the coating.

Taking the cake out of the oven he realised that Zayn’s kitchen, as great as it was equipped, did not have a blast chiller to cool the cake down. He sighed and decided that the best way to cool it down quickly was to put it into the cold cellar for some time before relocating it into the freezer. 

He spent some time in the living room with his friends, watching the rest of The Nightmare Before Christmas while waiting for the cake to be cooled down enough, with the interruption of taking the cake from the cellar to the freezer after about twenty minutes.

When he finally took the cooled down cake out of the freezer, he was so nervous to slice it open in the middle that he almost tripped over Zayn’s cat on his way to the kitchen island. Mrs. Gertrud looked at him a little offended, while he pressed the cake close to his chest trying to calm down. 

Cutting the cake open was actually easier than expected, as was spreading out the buttercream. When it finally came to glazing the cake with the tempered chocolate Louis suddenly was glad that he had forced Harry to watch both seasons of Zumbo's Just Desserts with him.

Louis put the cake back into the refrigerator. He scuffled over into the living room and let himself fall on the sofa on top of his friends. For a moment he looked over at the TV. 

“Is that Corpse Bride?” he asked, twisting his neck so he could look at his friends who were both grinning at him.

“Of course it is. Who do you take us for?” Liam supplied, cheerfully, while Zayn kept staring at the screen, lazily playing with their boyfriend's hair with one hand.

Louis, shaking his head, looked back at the screen, where some dead folks were preparing a giant wedding cake while singing. He closed his eyes, quietly humming along, a small blush creeping up his neck…

… and was woken abruptly by a loud banging noise, followed by a hissed curse. Eyes flying open, he sat up so quickly his head felt a bit light for a moment. Having crashed on his friends’ sofa quite a lot over the past five years, even back when they still were only roommates and this had been Zayn’s room, and not the living room, he knew immediately where he was. 

Turning around to detect the source of the noise, he realised that it had gone dark outside while he had been asleep. The next thing he saw was Liam near the door, wearing a striped suit, holding his side, wincing.

“Did you walk into the door handle again?” Louis asked, trying to look sympathetic while suppressing a grin. Liam just nodded, looking pained. Louis was about to ask if he could do anything to help, when Zayn swooped in from behind their boyfriend and carefully helped him to the sofa.

“You better go and finish your cake and then get dressed. It’s almost half past five and we have to be at your place at eight or else Harry will kill us,” Zayn commented distractedly, and Louis didn’t bother telling them that Harry had told them to come at eight in anticipation of Louis and Zayn in combination being late by an hour at least. 

He quietly went into the kitchen and took the cake out of the refrigerator. It looked pretty good, he thought, while getting the half of leftover vanilla buttercream frosting he had previously coloured as white as possible while maintaining a slight bluish tint. Carefully he filled the frosting into a kind of tube, which he didn’t know the name of, but knew how to use. In theory, anyways. 

Not trusting his ability to actually write prettily with the frosting, he used the metal poker he’d used beforehand, to test if the cake was ready, to write out his message on the cake beforehand. Then he tried writing with the frosting on an abandoned shopping list before starting to trace his message.

When he had finished this he was sweating and his hands were shaking but he had to admit, his writing was not bad at all. His hands started to become a little less shaky while washing out the plastic tube thingy and refilling it with the bright orange frosting he had also prepared earlier in hopes of achieving the illusion of little pumpkins circling the edge of the cake. 

To his great disappointment the small orange vanilla buttercream frosting swirls looked mainly like small orange vanilla buttercream frosting swirls and decidedly less like little pumpkins, but maybe the colour scheme would be enough in this case.

After placing the cake in a box and putting it back into the refrigerator he made his way into the bathroom. He kicked Zayn out, who was trying to figure out which lipstick colour was the most fitting for their costume.

“I am sorry for having to rob you of your mirror, Morticia, but I must now take a shower and get ready, myself,” he said, before shutting the door.

He could hear his friend complaining about lightning through the door, but only until the warm water of the shower engulfed him. 

When he emerged from the bathroom some time later, wearing a colourful late eighteenth century outfit with far too many ruffles for his taste, Liam and Zayn were both ready, looking remarkably like the original Addams.

No matter how inclined Louis was to leave for the party at his and Harrys’ flat, Zayn immediately forced him to sit down for some ‘hair and makeup action’ as they called it. So Louis let Zayn do things with makeup that made him look, well, dead, while Liam did things to his hair that let it look kinda wavy and poofy. He’d never admit it, but he liked it. 

Half an hour later he still did not look like Brad Pitt but at least he looked suitably vampiresque. Looking at his friends and then himself he realised he quite liked this years ‘fictional horror classics’ theme. He was even a little excited to see what their friends had come up with, only knowing of Ziams’ Addams Family plans and his and Harrys’ own Interview with a Vampire costumes.

Liam, taking his camera from its bag, insisted on taking a few pictures before leaving, no matter how late they already were. They had decided earlier to hail a cab to get to Louis’ flat, and as much as Louis dreaded the drive, hoping instantly that his cake would survive it, he was also glad, because he didn’t think he’d be able to deal with being recognised by someone. To be honest, he had no idea when the band had started to become more than just some band and where their self proclaimed fans came from but it still confused him a little.

They left the flat and were in a cab in no time because for some reason cabbies just Stopped when they saw Zayn looking at them. Louis stared out of the window while the other two were talking animatedly. He was nervous.

_ Single: Ocean Blue  _

Harry was stressed. And he missed Lou. 

He had kicked his boyfriend out two days prior under the guise of wanting to surprise him with decorations. Zayn had helped him for the better part of a month with his plan and they had spent all day yesterday with final preparations.

He and Niall had spent all day decorating, last-minute organising, and getting ready. Now all he could do was look pretty and vampirey in his wide white blouse and dark, ornate vest, while waiting.

To make everything worse, Gemma, in a frizzy orange wig and a housemaid outfit, had arrived about an hour early and kept complaining about Louis not being here yet. As if he was her boyfriend and not Harry’s. She wasn’t even complaining about Lottie’s absence because apparently Louis’ little sister was answering her Snapchats. 

Harry rolled his eyes. He didn’t have a Snapchat. He had a private Instagram story for dorky selfies and a public one for making stories and info about his creations and shop and that was that. Mainly he felt like he had refused to make one for so long that it was too late now. 

Moreover, did she refuse to tell him who she was supposed to be dressed up as, while teasing that if he was not able to guess it as soon as Lottie arrived, she would disown him, which annoyed him immensely.

It was half past eight and most of their friends were already there, possibly because the weather forecast had predicted it to rain all night, starting around nine. Harry, trying to make his way into the kitchen to get a drink for his nerves, had to squeeze past an incredibly big Audrey 2. He was unsure who was inside, until Sarah pushed the plant’s mouth further open by lifting the upper half. 

“Do you want a drink, too?” he asked, pointing at the kitchen table, overflowing with bottles.

“Do you have any mango-maracuya juice?” she asked, sweetly. He gave her a nod and started to fill a glass for her.

“Thank you, that should do it,” she stopped him, when the glass was only half full. She took it from him and suddenly she produced a full bottle of vodka from somewhere within her costume, filling the glass up to the brim. As quickly as the bottle had appeared it seemingly evaporated again.

She gave him a nod, lifted her glass in cheers before taking a deep gulp without changing a face and disappeared into the living room. Harry could only stare. Sometimes she scared him.

He was just leaving the kitchen when he saw the front door open. He was moving before he even saw Louis. As soon as his boyfriend had entered the hallway Harry stopped in his tracks. Louis looked more beautiful than ever. His hair was soft and glossy, his complexion looked like porcelain, and his blue jacket made his eyes look even brighter. He looked even better than Brad Pit, if Harry was to be asked. 

Louis was also staring at him. Harry hoped it was not because his hair looked weird. He had tried to put it into soft, defined curls and he had succeeded, only that his hair now did not look like his usual natural style. Suddenly he felt very self conscious about his hair. He gave one of the curls a tug in hopes of making it look more natural. 

Louis hurriedly stepped towards him and took his hand. Softly he pulled it away from Harry’s face, only to take the curl himself and twist it around his finger. With a small smile he leaned up, carefully pulling Harry down into a kiss.

Harry knew Louis had to stand on his tiptoes to be able to kiss him like this and moved his hands to his waist to help him balance. 

And then Louis parted his lips. 

And Harry's brain short circuited. 

“Get a room.” Harry and Louis both flinched when Zayn pushed past them. 

“Sorry,” Liam said with an apologetic shrug, following his partner. Harry could see from the corner of his eye that Liam was carrying something with both hands, but Louis’s lips were on his again and he decided it was not so important.

He had no clue why Louis still had that effect on him but he hoped it would never stop. 

They were interrupted by the doorbell, but before either of them could even move towards the entrance Gemma rushed past them with a squeal. She opened the door with far too much force and ran outside. Harry looked at Lou but only got a shrug and a small grin as an answer. 

They both leaned forward, trying to see the reason for Gemma’s excitement but all they could see was a gold glittering top hat. Then the top hat let go of Gemma and ran with full speed towards them, flinging herself at the two of them, trusting her brother would catch her. 

Harry stepped a little to the side so Louis and Lottie had enough space for a decent cuddle and smiled softly at them.

“And?” Gemma asked, putting her arm over his shoulder, “do I have to disown you now, or did you figure it out?”

He grinned at her, pushing her bonnet a little to the side waiting for the Tomlinsons to return from their own personal world to them.

“So, Columbia and Magenta, eh?” he said, pointing first at Lottie and then at his sister “You’re correct, The Rocky Horror Picture Show can definitely be classified as a modern fictional classic. You may come in.” 

He bowed a little, ushering the others into the flat so he could close the door behind them. Lottie, however, seemed to have different plans because she tackled him in a hug instead, so he had no chance to possibly do anything but catch her. He could hear Louis chuckle and then he felt a little push in his back so that they both stumbled into the hallway. 

“Oi!” Lottie shouted, loosening her grip on Harry, turning towards her brother, who was closing the door, smiling. Louis patted her head, smoothly avoided getting bit on the hand, then took her jacket from her.

“Come on! The others are waiting already!” Gemma said, while hopping in one place. She took Lottie’s arm, dragging her towards the living room. Harry held his hand out towards Louis who took it with a soft smile, following their sisters to the living room. 

Before they could enter it, though, he stopped, looking at Louis, seriously.

“Sunshine, I have a surprise for you, later.” He gave Louis a little kiss on the nose. There was a little pause where Louis seemed to be a little more fidgety than usual, not looking him into the eye. 

“I have something for you, too, later,” he said, looking up, a smile as bright as the sun on his face.

They went into the living room and the first thing they saw were Niall and Liam standing in front of each other in a perfect rendition of the Spider-Man meme, Zayn next to them, laughing. They were both wearing black and white striped suites. 

Harry sighed, he knew that somewhere Jimmy was matching Niall’s outfit with a very willful version of Lydia, which would definitely end up in a who is the most dramatic goth protagonist contest between him and Zayn.

“I never realised that the only difference between Gomez Addams and Beetlejuice the width of the stripes on their suits is. And that Beetlejuice had green hair.” Zayn threw a long strand of their black wig over their shoulder, and then threw themself into Liam's arms. 

They tumbled into Clare, James and Steve who had been sitting on the sofa, chatting, the four of them ending up as a pile of limbs and dark hair.

“Is Clare supposed to be the woman in white?” Louis looked at her, skeptically, not even daring to ask about James’ costume,

“I’m Carmilla, you buffoon! The original vampire from classical literature, not a cheap knockoff like your Edward!” she yelled at him from somewhere under Zayn while Steve desperately tried to get them all up again. 

“Hey! I’m not Edward! I’m Louis! Like the one from Interview with a Vampire? Brad Pitt?” He looked at Harry in search of help, but his boyfriend only nodded, solemnly.

“Louis de Pointe du Lac,” he supplied, not very helpfully, “and my name is Lestat de Lioncourt, Milady.” 

Louis rolled his eyes, offering Clare a hand while Harry helped Liam and Steve up. Zayn seemed to manage getting up well enough on their own and James was still laughing hysterically, so Harry only helped them untangle their wigs from James suspiciously nest like looking wig. 

When everyone had finished brushing down their costumes and detangling, or in James' case retangling, their hair, Harry managed to finally get a proper look at James’ costume.

“Ah. Mary Sanderson. Well hello, where are your two sisters?” he asked, looking around for Ed and Nick, knowing that the shop trio took pride in always wearing matching costumes on Halloween. 

“I think they went to get some food but I’m not sure,” Steve commented when James just shrugged, before focusing on Louis. “Anyways, haven’t seen you in a while, bro!” 

Harry fondly watched the friends hug and then whisper quietly before Louis gave him a pat on the back.

Steve was dressed as the matchmaker from Mulan, including a paint beard drawn over his real beard. The only reason why Steve was allowed to portray this character was that he had most eloquently argued that A) Disney movies were definitely fictional, B) the matchmaker scene was the most horrific scene he’d ever watched in his whole life, C) he’d only ever been allowed to watch Mulan on Halloween, which made it a classic and D) he had a long standing tradition to dress up as different characters from the movie every year. 

Harry had not been able to find any good counter arguments to this logic. 

They spent the next few hours talking with their friends, eating too much and drinking (in Harry’s case) only little alcohol. He still had a plan and he needed to be mostly sober for it to work.

Shortly after half past eleven Harry found Louis again, talking to Zayn about something, looking serious. He softly caressed Louis' shoulder to announce his presence, waiting for him to finish talking while listening politely to Gemma rambling about some recent celebrity gossip that apparently everyone knew about, which, much to Gemma's dismay, he hadn't heard of yet.

When Louis finally turned to him questioningly, he gave him a small peck first on the nose, then on the lips.

“I kinda want to give my surprise to you. Do you want it now or later?” he asked, playing with the ruffles on Louis’ shirt. 

“I also have a surprise for you, but I have to go and get it first,” Louis said, quietly, against Harry’s lips.

Harry shuddered, suddenly less inclined to give Louis his surprise and more to just lift him up and carry him into their bedroom. He gave Louis a long kiss instead, parting, unwillingly, a few minutes later.

“I’m, I’m gonna go get your surprise now…” Louis sounded a little breathless and Harry felt a spark of pride that his kiss could leave Louis this flustered.

He watched Louis go for a moment then he rushed to where Zayn and Niall were talking animatedly, probably about conspiracy theories and/or aliens. 

“Now, Zee!’ he practically yelled and they both rushed to the sofa behind which Zayn had hidden all the equipment Harry apparently needed. 

They pressed a few buttons, pushed, turned and pressed a few more things, then they handed Harry the guitar and nodded. The room had gone quiet as Niall had dimmed some of the more prominent and colourful lights and pointed a spotlight on Harry. He was not sure if it was an actual spotlight or a repurposed desk lamp. 

Harry’s hands were shaking, his eyes kept darting through the room in hopes of finding Louis and his breath was shallow. When his gaze finally found Lou, walking into the room, holding something and looking more than just a little nervous and confused, he calmed down instantly.

“Hey, sunshine. So I wrote something for you, a song called Ocean Blue,” he said into the microphone, his eyes never leaving Louis. Behind him Zayn was coughing, pointedly.“with a little help from Zayn, of course.” 

Louis' eyes went wide as they flew to his best friend for a second, instantaneously coming back to his boyfriend. He walked a few more steps into the room, their friends starting to withdraw a little so that their view on each other was clear. 

Their eyes still locked, Harry softly started to sing.

When he reached the final chorus he blindly handed Zayn the guitar and started to walk towards Louis, singing the rest of the song a Capella. When he came closer he could see that he had tears in his eyes but he was smiling like a million stars.

When he finally reached him he took a little box from his vest pocket and Louis hiccuped, his eyes leaving Harry’s for the first time since the song had started, darting down to the ring that was needed into the little box.

And then Harry looked down for the first time himself.

Louis was holding something that looked like a cake.

A cake with writing.

A cake that had a little box standing on it.

A box with a ring in it.

_ Will you marry me,  _ the writing, surrounded by little pumpkin swirls, read.

Harry cried. Louis also cried. Everyone around them seemed to be cheering and applauding but Harry was not really aware of their surroundings. They had both sunken to their knees at some point, both still crying, putting the cake down, fumbling to get their respective rings on and then they were just hugging and laughing and crying some more until Lottie and Gemma came to hug them both and Harry almost pushed them both over, trying to protect Louis’s cake. 

A little later they were still sitting on the floor, cuddling, but their friends, after having congratulated them, had decided that their engagement was now old news and that they could go back to drinking now. 

Even their sisters had disappeared after a while, leaving with Zayn, who had apparently known about both their proposal plans and helped each of them separately. 

“You know, the two of you have exactly one brain cell that you share and I think it originally belongs to Zayn,” had been Lottie’s conclusion before she had dragged Gemma towards the kitchen.

Louis was still snuggled into Harry's side when he remembered the cake.

“I have to try it now!” he almost jumped up, almost knocking his fiancé over, running to the table to get a knife.

“I trust you let Liam take some aesthetically pleasing photos of the cake in better lighting?” There was a small nod from Louis in lieu of an answer before Harry finally cut into the cake.

He closed his eyes, savouring every taste and texture of the cake. It was simple but still delicious and well made.

“Hm, Lou, I think you might have to quit your job as an international rockstar and start to work at Sweets Style for me,” he smiled and gave Louis a little peck before biting into his cake slice again.

“Only if you quit your job as the most famous pâtissier in Europe to come on tour with us as our new lead singer,” Louis joked back and they both grinned.

Harry felt like he had never smiled as much as he had today.

Carefully he put his cake back on the plate, pushing it a bit further away from them with one hand while gently putting the other on Louis' cheek.

When their lips met, it felt just like their first kiss all over again. 


End file.
